Parking

Smart Parking Workshop

APA Northern Section and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission held a successful workshop at the MetroCenter in Oakland on November 9 entitled: Smart Parking for Smart Growth: Reforming Parking Policies for TOD. Approximately 75 people attended the two-hour workshop. The objective was to reach common ground on strategies for achieving more realistic parking standards for transit-rich areas. The impetus for the workshop was AB 904 (Skinner), a bill that was introduced during the last state legislative session to define parameters for local parking standards for transit rich areas. The bill was eventually tabled in committee, but it is expected that a modified bill will be introduced in the next legislative session. This bill received a higher than usual amount of debate among California planners with strong opinions expressed on both sides of the issue. The APA California Chapter eventually took an “opposed unless amended” position on the bill; while it fully supported the goal of reforming parking standards, concerns were expressed about specific language in the bill. The workshop provided a discussion on transit parking with a specific dialogue on the pros and cons of AB 904. The workshop concluded with a lively interactive session involving all attendees to suggest revisions to the bill as well as other solutions for promoting reasonable parking standards for transit areas.

A report on the outcome the workshop will be posted on this web page as soon as it is available. It will also be provided to the APA California Chapter Legislation and Policy Committee for its consideration in evaluating the next version of the parking bill. Comments are also welcome for sharing on this web page; please email to hansonapa@gmail.com. Meanwhile, the following links provide information on the workshop.